And because our sport is dumb, Hodgkinson is the DL champion despite crossing the line second. I don't think wild cards should be allowed into the DL final (what's the point in having a qualifying system?), but if you're going to let them in, let them win the damn thing.
It isn't at all dumb. The whole idea is to incentivize the top athletes to compete in Diamond League events during the season and promote the sport.
In your scenario you could have athletes like Mu and Sydney not run a Diamond League meet all year and Wild Card it into the final and walk away with the title of overall Diamond League Champion. That too, would be absurd. As would, for example, Duplantis injuring himself failing his opening height and the "next guy" at 5M 82 walking away with the Diamond League title despite Duplantis winning every other meet he competed in that year.
I don’t have a problem with it at all. There’s a real question if the final should be winner takes all as it is. You could argue they should merely double/triple the points instead to make previous stops matter (if just a little bit), though I get that they want to maximize stakes/drama. I have no qualms with letting Mu in the field but not racing the circuit has consequences.
She is the best/capable of being the best, but her lack of racing and caring about the sport made her lose at worlds. She wasn't sharp at worlds because she had run one 800 meter race against weak competition, and a couple 1500s at USAs at that time, and is just not able to run at her best but it's too late to get the world title. Hopefully she learned from this year and races a little more in May/June so that she's not still 'rust busting' in July/August.
Athing ran amazingly well, so impressive! However, I don’t think Keely will make the mistake of allowing her to shadow her in Paris, but instead will tuck back as well. Athing *probably* still wins in that scenario, but I suspect it would be incredibly close at the end (even closer than yesterday).
Well, I would guess that the long term training plan for Keely was designed to have her win in Paris. After all, you can almost see the Eiffel Tower from the top of the CIS building in Manchester! Also, it's virtually same time-zone. and, of course, And, and big and. It shouldn't be that hot. I don'y think anybody has mentioned the effect of heat on Keely ( compared with Athing and Mary.) For example, if the Olympic final was held on a wet day in Manchester in 60 degrees, I'd hand Keely the gold medal right now.
Would be interesting to learn why Mu has gotten a few strides better than Hodgkinson the last couple of years. Mu is putting more and more distance at the top end ahead of Keely. I do think Mu has world record potential, so perhaps Keely needs to improve her 52-sec 400m speed closer to 50.5 or so.
Agreed. Mu is the fastest in the field, even with a limited racing schedule. Right now I would say that she has the best chance of getting to 1.53 (but needs to race more), but should still try and get that 400m down to the 48's as she is young (Kersee taking her out of the 400m because SML is doing the event is non-sensical). She doesn't need to run 1500m (other than rarely like Arop) as she is naturally lean, just has to do the endurance work to back up her speed, and race more, if she wants to scare that WR.
Moraa had a bad run for her - lost it in the last 100m. She didn't run last week's DL 400m due to a personal matter, perhaps that was still affecting her yesterday.
Goule is getting older and her top end speed (51.mid) isn't good enough to threaten the WR. Keely is young and can still work on hers (51.7x), and needs to or she won't get down to 1.53. Moraa is new to the 800m, and is young as well (relative to Goule anyway) so her 50.5 can still get better. Of course all the while getting better endurance as well from training.
Didn't Goule just run a Jamaican record yesterday?
I don’t have a problem with it at all. There’s a real question if the final should be winner takes all as it is. You could argue they should merely double/triple the points instead to make previous stops matter (if just a little bit), though I get that they want to maximize stakes/drama. I have no qualms with letting Mu in the field but not racing the circuit has consequences.
They tried that for several years. The final was not winner take all. They tinkered with the points system many times to try to give the season long leaders a big advantage but still mathematically possible for someone to emerge from the final.
It didn't work. Too confusing and not satisfying. It was like the PGA and LPGA tours which struggled with the same type of thing at their season ending tour championships. You end up crowning two winners, which feels like each one is 1/2 a winner.
This was a rare situation with Mu. I don't think it's worthy of overreaction. Normally the wild cards are popular athletes from the host country who have not otherwise qualified but the fans want to see them.
Would be interesting to learn why Mu has gotten a few strides better than Hodgkinson the last couple of years. Mu is putting more and more distance at the top end ahead of Keely. I do think Mu has world record potential, so perhaps Keely needs to improve her 52-sec 400m speed closer to 50.5 or so.
Agreed. Mu is the fastest in the field, even with a limited racing schedule. Right now I would say that she has the best chance of getting to 1.53 (but needs to race more), but should still try and get that 400m down to the 48's as she is young (Kersee taking her out of the 400m because SML is doing the event is non-sensical). She doesn't need to run 1500m (other than rarely like Arop) as she is naturally lean, just has to do the endurance work to back up her speed, and race more, if she wants to scare that WR.
Moraa had a bad run for her - lost it in the last 100m. She didn't run last week's DL 400m due to a personal matter, perhaps that was still affecting her yesterday.
Goule is getting older and her top end speed (51.mid) isn't good enough to threaten the WR. Keely is young and can still work on hers (51.7x), and needs to or she won't get down to 1.53. Moraa is new to the 800m, and is young as well (relative to Goule anyway) so her 50.5 can still get better. Of course all the while getting better endurance as well from training.
I agree with your assessment. Mu can get into WR territory, she needs some 400s early on, and I hope that SML doing them also does not deter her Coach from having her do them. SML is a 400Mh, Mu is a 800M runner so both of them running the 400M is fine....it is not as if they will race that distance in the OG.
Would like to see Mu go after the WR at 600m this winter. Already owns the AR.
Her AR is already pretty close to the 600 WR originally set by the Russian and then broken by Hodgkinson. Mu ran the 600 AR as a 16 year old! I think she might also have a shot at the 1K record as well.
